UP pvt schools soften stance over admission of EWS kids under RTE

The private schools, which were earlier adamant on not giving admission to economically weaker section children under the Right to Education Act due to non reimbursement of their fees by the state government, have now soften their stance and are willing to give admission to the unprivileged children.

The private schools, which were earlier adamant on not giving admission to economically weaker section (EWS) children under the Right to Education Act (RTE) due to non reimbursement of their fees by the state government, have now soften their stance and are willing to give admission to the unprivileged children.

According to statistics there has been a steady rise in RTE admissions -- from 54 in 2014 to nearly 4,000 in 2015, around 17,200 in 2016, about 28,000 in 2017 to as many as 42,000 in 2018. (Representative image)

“We are willing to give admission to genuine and needy unprivileged students if we are satisfied that their family income is too less. We are hopeful that state government will reimburse their fees as specified in the RTE Act. We feel that may be because of the model code of conduct, government might be unable to make payment,” said Anil Agarwal, president of Unaided Private Schools Association, Uttar Pradesh, while talking to media persons here on Sunday.

“We took this decision keeping in mind the interest of the poor students and also it was in the interest of the private schools,” Agarwal said.

He said that Section 12 (2) of the Right to Education Act 2009 clearly states that the private schools will be reimbursed either the per pupil expenditure in the government schools or the school fees charged by the private schools, whichever is less.

“We hope the state government will reimburse the fees of children after Lok Sabha elections is over as it may be experiencing difficulty in paying the amount due to model code of conduct in force,” he added.

Jagdish Gandhi, founder manager of City Montessori Schools said, “We urge the government to consider this request so that schools can educate RTE children without hassle.”

According to statistics there has been a steady rise in RTE admissions -- from 54 in 2014 to nearly 4,000 in 2015, around 17,200 in 2016, about 28,000 in 2017 to as many as 42,000 in 2018. This is still way behind as under the RTE, total seats in UP schools is six lakh.